Making Tax Digital

It’s now over three months since the announcements which put VAT firmly at the vanguard of the Making Tax Digital (MTD) programme. Our blog in July took a look at the challenges faced by businesses, advisers and HMRC.

John Preston, Incoming CIOT President of the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT), sets out some of the differences between the approaches of the UK and Australian revenue authorities in the ways they are implementing their respective Making Tax Digital (MTD) programmes.

Representatives of HMRC defended the Making Tax Digital project to the Economic Affairs Finance Bill Sub-Committee after stakeholders had criticised the breadth and timing of the plans in previous Committee sessions.

The Finance Bill Sub-Committee of the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee produces (usually) just one report a year – on the aspects of the draft Finance Bill that it thinks most warrant scrutiny. This year the sub-committee has decided to focus entirely on Making Tax Digital (MTD) and the draft legislation that will apply to small businesses and residential landlords.